


Returning Home

by liraeth_archive



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 15:24:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18831379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liraeth_archive/pseuds/liraeth_archive
Summary: Originally Published: Jul 24, 2001





	Returning Home

This fanfic was written in 2001 under the penname Dal and is being added to AO3 for archiving purposes only.

 

Summary:  A woman appears on the Tsukino's doorstep one morning. Who is she and what does she want? And what is her relationship to Usagi Tsukino, their daughter who mysteriously vanished over a decade ago?

 

Chapter One

 

The neighborhood was completely dark. The streetlights didn't reach the sidewalks and cast eerie shadows on all the parked vehicles. A girl stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the large, two story house in front of her. She carried nothing except a backpack slung over her shoulder. She took one look around the block before she started walking. She had traveled far out of her way to visit this place again. As far as she knew, her family still lived there. They probably didn't think about her much. Maybe they'd even forgotten her already. She'd been gone for over a decade after all. But she'd promised in the letter she'd written before she'd left that she'd visit them whenever she returned to town.

"Tomorrow." She whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow."

 

 

The Tsukino's were just sitting down to breakfast when the doorbell rang. Shingo jumped up and rushed to answer it.

"I wonder who on earth would be calling on us this early in the morning?" Kenji asked.

Shingo came back into the room leading a young woman. The woman bowed to the two sitting people before she spoke.

"I'm sorry to bother you at such an early hour," She said unemotionally. "But I won't be here later today and I made a promise that I intend to keep."

Ikuko studied the woman standing in the middle of the room. She had blond hair to her chin that was streaked with silver. She was wearing a pair of baggy, torn jeans and a black tee shirt covered by a leather jacket. A pair of sunglasses covered her eyes. "I'm sorry, ma'am." She said. "But can I ask your name?"

The woman seemed to find this quite amusing but she kept her face emotionless. "My name?" She asked. "I guess I do need to introduce myself. It has been a long time. Still, it's odd you don't recognize me." She pushed the sunglasses onto the top of her head and studied the other people with cold, blue eyes. "It's me, Usagi."

The room went completely silent. Then Ikuko fainted. The two men rushed to her side, but the woman merely dug through her pocket and pulled out a small tube. She opened it and passed it under the older woman's nose. Her eyes fluttered open.

"What the..." She looked at the girl. "Usagi?"

The younger woman nodded. "Hai. It's me." She said.

Kenji stood and helped his wife up. Shingo stood and studied the woman claiming to be his long lost sister. "What happened to you?" He asked.

Usagi turned her icy gaze to the boy. "What do you mean?" She asked.

Shingo shook his head. "You can't be Usagi." He said. "Usagi would have been laughing or crying right now. You're too cold and emotionless to be her."

Usagi smiled, but it didn't touch her eyes. "When you spend ten years fighting wars, you don't find much to smile or laugh at." She said.

"War?" Kenji asked.

Usagi nodded. "The war with the organization OZ." She explained.

Ikuko looked at her daughter. "You mean, you fought in the war. You killed people?" She asked.

Usagi looked at the ground. "I did." She said quietly. " But I had no choice."

"How could you not have a choice?" Shingo demanded angrily.

Usagi looked up, startled. Then she too grew angry. "Do you know how hard it was to shoot those people?" She asked. "Every bullet I fired killed another person. But if I didn't kill them, who would? Who else would have ended that war and brought peace to the world?"

Shingo shrunk back from her gaze, then shot back, "The Gundam Pilots." He said. "That's why they were there."

"I was a Gundam Pilot." Usagi shouted. Then she calmed down immediately. She turned her cold eyes on her shocked family. "I'm sorry, that was un-called for." She said.

"What do you mean?" Kenji asked finally.

Usagi sat down. "I don't have much time here, but I'll explain everything to you the best I can. I've known the doctors for as long as I can remember. They're the ones who trained me and gave me my Gundam. Then, when I was fourteen, they introduced me to the other Gundam pilots.

 

 

~Flashback~

"Where are we going?" A young Usagi asked. She looked out the window of the car she was in. "I've got to be at school in an hour. And I can't keep being late like this."

The older man that was driving the car looked at her. "I want you to meet some people." He said. "Besides, being late keeps you from suspicion. No one will think anything's going on if you can keep this charade up for a few more months."

"You shouldn't have picked me up on the street. Someone might have seen." She pointed out.

"I checked on it." The doctor said. He drove into the parking lot of a warehouse and turned off the car. "We're here." He said.

Usagi opened the car door and stepped out. "But, this is where the Gundams-"

The doctor silenced her by waving his hand. "These people you're meeting know all about the Gundams." He said. He opened the door and led her inside the warehouse.

"You're finally here." A man's voice said.

Usagi's quickly turned and focused on the five boys and three men standing inside the building. Six Gundams towered behind them. "Who're they?" She asked the doctor.

The man who had spoken first smiled. "I am Dr. O." He said. "These are the other doctors, (AN: I have no idea what their real name/letters are, so I'm making them up) Drs. H, M, and S. Of course, you already know Dr. J." He gestured to each man as he spoke.

Dr. J stepped in front of her. "The boys are training to be Gundam pilots like you. That's Wufei, Trowa, Quatre, Duo, and Hiiro." He pointed to each boy. The Chinese boy, Wufei, glared at her.

"I don't want to work with any weak onna like her." He said under his breath.

Before he knew it, he found himself flat on his back with a knife to his throat. The girl was sitting on his chest, and she wasn't happy. "Gomen nasai." She said. "But I could swear I heard you call me an onna. And not just and onna, but a weak onna." She pushed the blade against his skin. "Now who's the weak one?" She stood up and pulled the knife from his neck.

Wufei glared at her as he stood up. The other boys stared at her before the one with the braid burst out laughing. "Wu-man got beaten." He said in-between laughing. "I like her."

Usagi smiled at the boy. Her eye caught the clock on the wall and she swore under her breath. "Crap, I'm gonna be late." She said. She bowed to the doctors, picked up her school bag and took off running."

~End Flashback~

 

 

"Three months later, I had to leave for my mission." Usagi said. She studied the faces of her parents. Her mother was crying and her father was white with shock. "I wrote the letter, telling you I was okay and I'd be back someday."

"Someday!" Shingo exploded. "You've been gone ten years!"

Her father moved to quiet him, but Usagi shook her head. "He's right." She said. "I missed so much. We all thought we'd only be away for a year or so, but the war kept going on and on." She looked up as the doorbell rang.

Ikuko wiped her eyes with her hand. "I'll get it." She said. She stood and walked to the door. She opened the door to reveal a young man. "Ohayo." She said. "May I help you?"

The man's eyes wandered behind her into the house. "I'm here for Usa-chan." He said.

Ikuko raised an eyebrow. Usa-chan? She turned from the door. "Usagi!" She yelled. "There's someone here to see you." She turned back to the man. "Please, come in."

The man stepped into the house just as Usagi came out of the kitchen. Her eyes widened at the man in front of her. She ran up to him and flung her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "Hii-kun." She said. "I haven't seen you for the longest time."

Shingo and Kenji had followed her into the hallway. Now, they watched in shock as the man turned his head and kissed her gently on the lips. They could barely hear his words as he whispered into her ear.

"I missed you too, Usa." He whispered.

"Who is he?" Kenji asked. His face was turning red with anger.

Usagi turned to her father. "Tou-san." She said. "Calm down. This is my... friend... Hiiro."

Hiiro looked at the girl in his arms. "I came to tell you we have to go." He said softly.

Ikuko heard this quite clearly. "Go?!" She asked. "She just got here. She can't leave again."

Usagi looked at her mother. "I have to. Just because the war's over doesn't mean people have stopped fighting. We need to stop the fighting before another war breaks out."

Ikuko sighed. "Please, don't go." She begged. "We just got you back, and now you're leaving again."

Usagi clenched her fists. "Please." She said. "Don't make this any harder on me. We'll meet again. And it will be in less then a decade."

Hiiro opened the door for her and let her walk out before he closed the door behind them. "Did you tell them?" He asked as they walked away.

"About us?" Usagi asked. She shook her head. "No. It would only cause more problems." She pulled two rings out of her pocket and slipped them on her left hand. "I mean, if they knew they missed our wedding, they'd freak."

Hiiro wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Did you plant the bug?" He asked.

Usagi nodded. "Hai, but I still don't see how Shingo can be with OZ. I made sure not to tell him anything he doesn't already know. The only thing he learned was about me being a pilot."

"Good. We need to find out where the OZ resistance is forming." Hiiro said. "You're brother is the best way to do that."

Usagi put her sunglasses on and pulled her jacket tighter around her. "I know. Now, you promised to let me visit some of my friends." She said. She grabbed her husband's hand and led him down the street.

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

"Alright, what's the camera showing?" Usagi asked as she walked into the room. She slid into a seat in front of the TV screen.

One of the technicians next to her responded. "We haven't gotten anything on visual yet." He said.

Usagi frowned. She would have expected Shingo to go straight for the phone as soon as she'd left.

"The audio hasn't picked up anything unordinary yet." Another man said.

Usagi nodded and stood. "Keep me informed." She said. The head technician nodded. Usagi turned and left the room. As she walked down the hallway, she paused at a door and stuck her head in. "Hiiro?" She called.

"Hn?" He responded.

"I'm going out to say hi to some old friends." Usagi said.

Hiiro just nodded. "Don't forget to be back by two." He said. "We're leaving then."

Usagi looked at her watch and grimaced. Four hours. "You sure you don't want to come?" She asked. "Take some time away from that damn computer of yours?"

Hiiro sighed. She wouldn't leave him alone until he agreed. "Fine. I'm coming." He said. He stood up and joined her at the door. "Let's go."

 

 

"Take five!" The director called.

The young actress practically dropped into her chair. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. A few minutes rest and she'd be as good as new. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she wearily opened her eyes. It was one of the make-up ladies.

"Gomen for bothering you, Aino-san." She said. "But there are two people here to talk to you. They insist."

Minako sighed and stood up. "Fine, where are they?" She asked.

The lady smiled. "They're waiting in your trailer." She said.

Minako tiredly walked towards the small area where her trailer was located. She was in the middle of shooting a major scene for a movie, and she was the star role. They'd been filming since early that morning and she hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night. Now, she slowly opened the door and walked into the trailer. And stopped.

Sitting on her couch was one of the most dangerous men on the face of the planet. She backed away and almost yelled for help, but the woman sitting next to him stood up quickly.

"Calm down, Minako." She said quietly.

Minako stared at the woman in surprise. Then, she said, "There is a murderer sitting on my couch and you expect me to calm down? Who the hell are you anyways?"

The woman smiled slightly. "I don't know why you're so worked up." She said. "Did the make-up woman not tell you that we were waiting for you?"

Minako was shocked. "She told me I had guests, not a gundam pilot and some woman." She said.

Usagi rolled her eyes. "He won't hurt you." She said. "Now, I came here to talk, not to try and calm a hysteric woman down. Can we do that?"

Minako plopped down on a stool. "Who are you?" She asked. The woman was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place it.

Usagi brushed a piece of silver hair from her face. "That's better." She said. "Now, for introductions. My name is Yui Usagi. And this is, as I'm sure you know, Yui Hiiro."

Recognition struck Minako and she gaped at the young woman. "Usagi?" She asked. "As in Tsukino Usagi?"

Usagi nodded. "Hai, once. But I'm married now." She said.

"But, what happened?" Minako asked. "You disappeared ten years ago and now your back, alive, and married to a gundam pilot?"

"Hai." Usagi said simply.

Minako studied her. She looked like Usagi, only older and more mature. And much colder. Her eyes were like ice, and even though she smiled it didn't reach them. And her hair. It was streaked with silver, but it looked real. "What happened to you?" She asked. "I mean you're so different. Your hair, your clothes, even your attitude."

"I haven't been around very many people. At least, not many that smiled or laughed." Usagi said. "As for my hair." She shrugged. "I don't know. Over time, it just happened."

"Where exactly were you?" Minako asked.

"Exactly?" Usagi asked. "Well, I was in China for a little while, then America, Africa, all over Europe, then back here." She said.

"Why?" Minako asked.

Usagi shrugged again. "The war." She replied. "I went where ever there were battles."

Minako glanced uneasily at the man still sitting on her couch. "Because of him?" She asked.

"Not because of him, though I knew him before I left." Usagi said. "We fell in love during the war. Got married as soon as it ended."

"But, he's a gundam pilot." Minako pointed out. "How'd you know him?"

"All us gundam pilots knew each other." She said.

Minako stared at her friend as the information sank in. "You are a… a… a gundam pilot?" She asked.

Usagi nodded. "Hai." She said. She noticed the feared look in her friend's eyes. "But like I said, he won't hurt you and neither will I." She looked at her watch. "I need to go now." She said. "I don't have much time in town and there are others I'd like to visit."

Minako snapped out of her shock. "You mean I'm the first you've visited?" She asked.

Usagi nodded. "Hai. You were the easiest to find. I'm sure Rei is still at the temple, but I don't know where the others are." She looked at the blond. "Have you guys kept in touch?"

Minako smiled and looked down at the yellow, heart-shaped watch she wore around her wrist. "We have." She said. "Come with me, I'll take you to them."

"What about your work?" Usagi asked.

Minako shrugged. "They can live without me for a few hours." She said. Then she remembered Hiiro. "Uh, Usagi-chan?" She asked. Usagi looked up. "Can we please not bring him along?"

Usagi frowned but nodded. "I guess." She said. She looked at her husband. "Hiiro, I'll meet up with you later. Okay? Besides, I'm sure your relieved to get back to your laptop."

Hiiro nodded and kissed her on the cheek. "Be careful." He whispered. Then he was gone.

Usagi turned to Minako and smiled slightly. "Come on." She said. "I don't have much time."

Minako smiled. "Okay, but I have to get someone first." She said. She opened a small door at the back that led to her bedroom. A white cat walked out of it and easily jumped onto her shoulder. "All right, now we can go."

Usagi looked curiously at the cat, but followed the cheerful blond out the door and to her yellow sports car.

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

"Where are we going?" Usagi asked and the blond next to her sped down the street.

Minako glanced at her. "Mako-chan has a really cute bakery nearby. I could use a cup of coffee and a donut, so I figured that would be the best place to start. Ami-chan may still be there too. She stops by in the mornings after her shift at the hospital is over."

Usagi nodded understandingly. The small white cat jumped into her lap and Usagi caught herself staring at it. Absently, she traced the golden moon on its forehead. The cat meowed, then climbed into the back seat and lay down.

Minako pulled into a small shopping center and parked in front of a tiny bakery. Usagi climbed out of the car and looked around the area before following Minako inside.

The first thing she noticed when she entered was Minako talking to a young, blue-haired woman. 'Ami.' She thought. She turned her emotionless gaze to the woman coming out from behind the counter. 'Makoto.'

Both women looked curiously at Usagi before they set to questioning Minako.

"Minako-chan!" Makoto said. "You haven't come by lately."

"I thought you were shooting this morning." Ami put in.

Makoto shrugged. "I couldn't wait till after shooting to tell you guys." She said. She smiled at the woman behind her. "You guys will never guess who this is."

Both women studied her. She in return, looked at the two with a cold, hard gaze. Ami shrugged. "Who is she?" She asked.

Minako smiled. "You guys, this is Usagi." She said. Both women looked at her. "Now, don't look at me like I'm nuts. It is. She's finally come back!"

Usagi nodded to show it was true. Makoto slammed her fist down onto the table and shot Usagi a glare that would have done Hiiro proud.

"You're lying." She hissed. "There's no way on Earth that that girl is Usagi."

Usagi didn't flinch at the gaze; instead she shot an even colder gaze back at the brunette. "I don't have time for this." She said. "If we're going to go through this, I'll just leave. I am in Tokyo for a reason, you know." She turned for the door.

"No, Usagi." Minako cried. She grabbed Usagi's wrist in an attempt to stop her.

Usagi jerked away from the blonde's grip. "I have to return soon, and then I'll be leaving town." She said. "If we don't get this meeting over with soon, then it's never going to happen."

Ami looked at the angry woman. "Can you prove your really Usagi

Tsukino?" She asked.

"I'm not." Usagi said.

Ami looked at her confused. "Nani?"

"I'm not Usagi Tsukino." She said. "Watashi wa Yui Usagi."

Ami gasped at the name and Makoto's brow furrowed with thought. "Yui, as in Hiiro Yui, gundam pilot?" Ami asked.

Usagi nodded. "Hai, he's my husband." She said.

Makoto took a step away from her and Ami looked as though she was about to. "I told you she wasn't Usagi, Mina-chan." Makoto said.

Minako rolled her eyes. "Minna, she is Usagi. She's married though. It's a long story, but you have to trust me." When neither of them looked like they believed her, she added, "Don't forget exactly who I am. I know what I'm talking about."

Usagi narrowed her eyes as she studied Minako. She was hiding something from her, something only they knew. She kept silent, as she was trained to, and studied the reactions of the others.

Makoto sighed and relaxed and Ami nodded. "If you say so." Ami said. "Then I guess we'd better go get Rei-chan and get it over with."

Usagi had had enough. "What the hell's going on?" She asked, a bit more harshly then she'd intended. "What are you three talking about?"

Minako looked at the ground. "Onegai, Sere… Usagi-chan." She said. "Just come with us to meet Rei and we'll explain everything."

Usagi caught the slip and was instantly even more suspicious. She shook her head. "Iie. If you want Rei, then you'd better have her come here." She said. "I don't know what's going on, and I don't like not knowing what's going on."

Makoto groaned. This was going to be harder than they'd expected, but they didn't have a choice. "Usagi, everything will be explained." She said. "But we have to go to Rei's temple. We just have to."

Usagi sighed softly. "Fine, let's go." She said. 'I have a bad feeling about this.' She thought as she followed the three to Minako's car.

 

 

Rei looked up from her sweeping as three voices reached her ears. She set the broom against a tree and went to great the visitors.

Four women were waiting at the entrance of the temple. Three of them she recognized instantly, her best friends. The other woman, a woman with silver-streaked hair and icy blue eyes, seemed familiar. But she couldn't place it.

"Ohayo minna!" She said as she approached the group. Suddenly, she realized who the other girl was and her smile slipped from her face. "Usagi." She said. She studied the other woman, who merely glared back. "Oh kami-sama, that means it's time already." She said.

Minako nodded grimly. "Hai, it's time." She said. "Usagi's here. Let's get it over with."

Usagi glared between the four girls. "What the hell's going on?" She said, her voice seething with anger.

A small black cat that Usagi hadn't noticed before walked out in between Rei and the other four. Usagi noticed it had a moon shape just like the white cat did.

"Usagi, you've finally returned." The cat said.

Usagi's eyes widened in not fear, but shock. "That neko just spoke." She said. She noticed the others weren't surprised. They already knew what was going on. And Usagi didn't like the looks in their eyes.

"Watashi wa Luna." The cat said. "And the time has come."

Usagi looked at the cat again, and before she could look away, a golden light had shot out of the cat's forehead and connected with her own.

Usagi's eyes fluttered as the link passed memories to her. She shut her eyes tight and concentrated. With all her might, she jerked her head away and disconnected the beam.

"I don't know what's going on here." She said, panting slightly. "And I don't want to know. But I do know I'm getting out of here." She turned and ran like the devil was on her heals.

Luna looked at her fading form in shock and worry. No one should have had enough power to break the mind meld, but that wasn't nearly as worrying as something else. The meld was incomplete, which meant Usagi now only had partial memories restored.

"She's gone." Rei said. "We may have just lost her for good."

Luna shook her head. "We just have to hope enough of her memories were awakened. The prophecy is beginning. If Usagi doesn't become Sailor Moon, then we won't win the next fight.

The other girls looked down the road at the fading form of Usagi.

 

 

Usagi ran and ran. She was tired and needed to stop to breathe, but she wouldn't until she was safe. She was also aware of the people staring at her, but that didn't matter. 'What did that damned cat do to me?' She thought. 'And for that matter, how did it do that? And how could it talk?' A vision came to mind, of those four girls wearing strange fuku with a shadowed figure in the middle of them. The two cats with the moon symbols stood in front.

'What the hell's going on?'

 

 

Hiiro looked up from his laptop as the door to his bedroom was slammed open and then shut just as hard. The source of the noise was definitely not happy.

He sighed and closed the laptop, sliding it under the bed he and Usagi shared. "What's wrong Usa?" He asked.

At first she didn't answer him. She pulled out her own laptop and began to type furiously on it. For a second, Hiiro was afraid she was going to break the damn thing. Finally, she stopped typing and read whatever information was on the screen.

"Usa." Hiiro said. She looked up, startled. "What's wrong?"

Usagi shook her head. "It's nothing she said." She looked back down at the screen and began to type again.

A second later, she looked up as two arms wrapped around her waist and she looked up to see her husband's Prussian blue eyes staring worriedly at her. "You're lying." He said. "What's going on?"

"You aren't going to believe me." She said. "Hell, I hardly believe it myself."

He gave her that one look that very clearly said 'try me'.

With a sigh, she began. "After you left, Minako and I went to visit Makoto and Ami. They said some weird things and Minako almost slipped and called me Sere something." She paused. "Even though I knew something was going on, I let them take me over to the temple Rei lives at. That's where the real weird stuff started."

"Weird?" Hiiro asked. "What kind of weird?"

Usagi rubbed her temples. "There was a black neko with a moon insignia on its forehead. And, here's the first weird thing, it could…" She paused. "It could talk."

She felt his hand go up to feel her forehead and pushed it away angrily. "I am not sick!" She said. "I told you that you wouldn't believe me."

Hiiro lowered his hand. "Gomen, gomen." He said. "Keep going."

"The neko introduced herself as Luna and then it did this funny thing." She said. "A light shot out of its forehead and it hit mine. It was like it was sending me images or something. It took all my will power to move my head. Then I ran off and came here." She sighed as she finished and leaned back against his chest.

Hiiro shook his head. "I know this is just too weird to be true, but I do believe you Usa." He said. "Now I just want to figure out who those girls are and what's going on."

Usagi looked up at him and smiled slightly. "You want to spy in other words." She said.

He nodded. "Hai, let's do it." He said. "We've got that mission tonight, so we'll have to go now."

Usagi nodded and stood. "Right. Just let me change and we'll head out." She said.

 

 

"This is it?" He asked.

She nodded, her silver hair sparkling in the midday sun. "Hai, this it." She said. She walked up the steps and led him to the shade of a large, leafy tree in the middle of the courtyard.

"I have a bad feeling about this." He muttered.

She punched him playfully in the shoulder. "You, Mr. Perfect Soldier, have a bad feeling?" She asked. "I thought you were fearless."

He glared at her, but she just smiled. The smile slipped almost as quickly as it appeared. "I hear something." She said.

He nodded and quickly pulled himself up into the tree behind her. She looked around for another second before following.

The four girls they were looking for were walking down the walk towards the bench next to the tree they were hiding in. They sat down and were quiet for a minute before they began to talk.

 

 

"I can't believe we lost her." Makoto said. "We should have been ready for this."

Minako shook her head. "We had absolutely no way of knowing she was a Gundam pilot. That alone changes everything." She said. "That and the fact that she's nine years older than we were when we got our memories returned."

Rei nodded in agreement. "Hai, I mean we were skeptical enough and we were at the age when we'd believe just about everything. She's already set in the world. It's different when you're this age."

Ami just sighed and looked across the courtyard where the two cats were napping. "She's ready for it." She said. "If her claims are true, and I think they are, then she's seen more death and destruction then we'll ever see. As senshi, all we killed were youma. She killed humans. She can handle the responsibilities of a Sailor Senshi."

"You're right. We just need to find her and make her understand what's going on." Minako said. "Let's just hope we aren't too late."

 

 

In the tree, Usagi shot a very questioning look at Hiiro. He, in return, just shrugged.

Usagi sighed softly and began to climb up the tree and toward the branches that hung over the sidewalk. As soon as she was sure it was safe, she jumped down onto the cement, landing easily. A second later, another body landed besides her.

"Those girls are the Sailor Senshi?" Usagi asked. "That's pretty hard to believe."

"You heard what they said. They think you're one of their little group. That's what that whole beam light was about."

Usagi shook her head. "I don't care what they think I am." She said. "I'm leaving town at first light tomorrow. We can leave a few people here to deal with Shingo, but I don't want to be one of them."

Hiiro nodded. "I'll file the transfer as soon as we get back to base." He said.

 

 

 

Chapter Four

 

He watched worriedly as the woman in front of him mumbled something in her sleep and rolled around. She'd been like this all night, tossing and turning, and Hiiro was starting to get worried. Usagi usually didn't have nightmares, and she normally would have woken up by now. Carefully, he reached out and touched her shoulder lightly.

Instantly, she opened her eyes and stared up into the worried Prussian blue ones sitting in the chair next to the bed they usually shared. She was breathing heavily, and it took a minute for her to calm down.

"Daijobu ka?" He asked in a whisper.

She nodded slightly. "Hai, it was just a dream." She rubbed her temples. "Just a dream. Demo…" She cut off and sighed.

"But what?" He asked.

"It just seemed so… well real." Usagi said. "Like I was actually there."

Hiiro thought for a moment. "You think it was those senshi girls from earlier?" He finally asked.

She nodded. "I know it was. They were there, in the dream." She looked at the clock on the table across the room. Its red numbers glowed dimly in the darkness of the bedroom, showing her the time. "But forget it. We have a mission to do." She gestured to the clock.

"I know." Hiiro said. "That's why I woke you up. We need to get ready. We have a rendezvous with Trowa at one. He'll get us into the base, then we're on our own."

Usagi climbed out of the bed and went over to his chair. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You didn't get any sleep did you?" She asked. When he didn't reply, she sighed. "Hii-chan, you know it's not good for your health if you don't get enough sleep."

He shrugged. "I'll be fine." He said.

She shook her head. "Whatever." She grabbed the pair of shoes that she'd tossed by the door and slipped them on. She was already dressed in her usual clothing. Black stretch pants, blank tank tops, and gloves. Her long, silvery hair was braided down her back and tied with a rubber band.

Hiiro stood as well and waited for her to finish preparing. He watched her slip a gun into her waistband and a dagger into her boot. Then, she stood and nodded.

"I'm ready." She said. "Let's do this."

"Nothing." The priestess muttered. "I can't find her anywhere." She shook the string of beads in her hand and threw a handful of powder onto the sacred fire in front of her. The fire hissed and swelled, giving of a wave of intense heat. Not one of the four occupants of the room noticed.

"I found a piece of hair in Minako's car and I'm running a tracking program based on its DNA right now." The blue-haired genius announced. She looked into the screen of her small, blue computer as it beeped. "It found something."

The three other girls gathered around the screen. A tiny golden dot was moving on the screen.

"She's out somewhere, but she's still in the city." Ami said. She pointed to the screen. "This gold dot is her, and the blue dot is us. All we have to do is follow the signal and it will lead us right to her."

Makoto stood up. "Well, then. What are we waiting for?" She asked.

"That was perfect." Usagi said cheerfully as they ran across the field from the base. "Absolutely perfect. We didn't run into a single soldier, and they probably won't notice the files are gone until morning."

Hiiro shook his head and looked back at the towering black building. "Something isn't right." He said. "It was too perfect. What are the odds that not a single soldier would be on patrol in any of the hallways we used?"

Usagi's smile dropped. "True. Is it a trap?" She asked.

"I don't know." Hiiro shrugged. "If it is, we fell right into it." He stopped as they reached the safety of the trees that surrounded the base and set the stack of files down. "Let's just see what the hell's in these things, anyways."

Usagi bent over his shoulder and watched as he opened the first folder. Three glossy sheets fell out and she snagged one before it hit the ground. "It's a profile." She said. "A man named Chiba Mamoru."

Hiiro took the paper and read it. "He's a high ranking officer." He said. "And look who his superior officer is." He pointed to a name.

Her eyes widened. "Shingo?" She asked. Her voice hardened to a monotone. "If he's that high of a rank, than it would be best just to eliminate him."

People gasped behind them and the couple spun around in fear. The files were totally forgotten as they looked to see who had managed to sneak up on them.

"You!" Usagi hissed. Hiiro looked at the newcomers with one of his better glares. "How did you find me?"

The source of the gasps stepped out from the shadows to confront the two gundam pilots. Four girls stood there. The tallest one stepped forward. "Usagi, how can you talk about killing your own itouto like that?" She asked. "You can't do it!"

Hiiro rested a hand on Usagi's shoulder and nodded when she looked up. She nodded back and turned away from the scene, picking up the files and leaving the area. Once she was gone, Hiiro turned to look at them.

All four girls flinched as he turned his icy glare to each one in turn. "Leave her alone." He said, his voice cold and harder than stone. "Just leave her alone. She isn't one of your little Sailor Senshi group. She never was." He focused on Ami, who was following Usagi's movements on her computer. Quicker than the eye could follow, he pulled out his gun and shot one bullet straight through the machine. "We're leaving Tokyo later in the morning. None of you will follow us. If I ever see any of you again, I'll kill you without hesitation."

Minako jerked forward. "You don't understand." She said. "We need her power to fight."

Hiiro shook his head. "No, you obviously don't understand." He said. "Just leave her alone." He turned and left the shocked group behind him.

Ami dropped the destroyed computer to the ground with a groan. "We can't just give up." She said. "I mean, he's just human. He can't stop us."

Makoto nodded in agreement. "We need to get to Usagi, and he can't stop us." She glanced down at the broken computer. "Guns will only get him so far with us."

"What if she doesn't want to go?" Rei asked quietly. "What if, even after we restore all of her memories, she doesn't want to come with us? We used to be best friends, and I don't want to do anything that would ever hurt her."

Ami and Makoto looked down. "Yeah, she has a life here. Her husband obviously cares for her a lot and she has a chance of being happy during this life." Makoto said.

All three girls looked at Minako for the final decision. "We'll try to talk to her, to make her understand." She said. "If she decides not to join us, we can't stop her."

Usagi closed her eyes and felt Hiiro's hand slide around her waist. She felt safe here, in his arms. Nothing else mattered as long as she was with him. One tired eye looked up at his face. He was concentrating on driving down the narrow road, but managed to glance down at her and smile slightly.

The car jerked under her and her head shot up in alarm, her body suddenly fully awake and aware. One glance in the rear-view mirror told her two things. One- the back tire had been blown out and was now little more than scraps of rubber on metal. And number two- they were being closely followed by several very angry OZ soldiers. She felt Hiiro stiffen beside her and look ahead of her at the road. A blockade of soldiers and trucks was in front of them, closing off the road.

They were trapped.

"What should we do with them?" One of the soldiers asked. He looked up at his commanding officer.

The man known as Mamoru Chiba ran a hand through his short black hair and studied the two prisoners, both of whom were glaring at him with icy blue eyes. They had put up a good fight, but his soldiers had managed to get them into the truck before too many were injured.

"We'll take them back to headquarters." He finally answered. "We'll be well rewarded for capturing two gundam pilots. And we recovered the files, too."

The younger soldier nodded and began to yell out orders to the others.

Mamoru looked at the young woman with curiosity. She looked familiar for some reason, a reason he couldn't really place. And she was hot. He didn't care about the fact that she was a gundam pilot and probably hated his guts. Even the most ferocious people could be tamed. And he was going to tame this one.

Oh yes, there was no doubt in his mind that this pretty one would be his very soon.


End file.
